They were two of the biggest, most complex and costliest corporate legal
actions ever brought by the U.S. Government. Rightly or wrongly, they came
to symbolize the relentless meddling that businessmen everywhere had learned
to fear most from Washington. Then last week, after years of litigation and
without any fanfare or warning, the twin legal dramas came suddenly to an end.

In Washington, Assistant Attorney General William Baxter, who nine
months earlier had declared his intention to "litigate it to the eyeballs,"...